Car Review: 2007 Porsche 911 GT3

Porsche GT3 the brightest star

By Derek McNaughton, Canwest News Service

Originally published: August 10, 2011

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Of all the cars in the Porsche universe, one shines more brightly than the rest.

The GT3, bred as much for the racetrack as the open road, has long distinguished itself as the epitome of performance, an instant track star off the showroom floor. Known as one of the highest-performing 911s, it is the supercar North American afficionados have long been waiting for.

In the right hands, the GT3 is a spectacular weapon, able to outgun even the mighty Turbo. But how fast will this 911 go, when piloted by someone other than professional drivers Hurley Haywood or Patrick Long? To find out, we went to Barber Motorsports Park in Birmingham, Ala., to put the car through the park’s challenging 3.8-kilometre course.

Barber Motorsports Park is a place to behold: More than $60 million has been invested in the facility, nestled in about 280 hectares of land. It has been dubbed the Augusta of road courses, thanks to its fairway-like landscaping, replete with statues, manicured forests and perfect grass. So impressive is the location, Porsche has made it home to its sports driving school. A motorcycle museum with some 1,180 vintage bikes in a five-storey concrete building is a fitting crown to the park and its owner, George Barber, a motorcycle fanatic and former dairy farmer.

But on this gloriously warm, blue sky day we are not here to savour the motorcycles; we are here to drive the legendary GT3.

The day begins with an opportunity to drive four other Porsche models, the Cayman, Boxter S, Targa 4S and Turbo. Each performs with grace and agility, delivering ferocious velocity — especially the Turbo, which roars to 100 km/h in less than four seconds. Every Porsche makes an ordinary driver feel like a Grand Am champ.

And what emerges, despite the vast differences in each car, is a remarkable feeling of how each Porsche, no matter what the model, somehow holds a similar DNA, rooted in almost 60 years of design and engineering, stemming back to the first production Porsche in 1948.

It is a shared quality that makes each car feel instantly intimate, desirable — a seduction that, I must admit, sent me head-first down the path of 911 ownership after reviewing a 2006 Carrera S one year ago.

So, yes, I’m biased. I absolutely love these cars. In March, a much-loved 1995 911 coupe from California became part of my family.

My affection for these vehicles has nothing to do with the name Porsche. It has more to do with the way these cars are engineered and built, the way they feel in your hands, your feet, back, ears and eyes. Through Barber’s 16 turns, each Porsche held fast to its intended line. Each stopped with enormous bite. Each was not a drive in a car, but a rewarding experience, a taste of what it means to blend high art with automobile manufacturing.

If all that sounds over the top, it is because no other manufacturer in my several years of reviewing automobiles has delivered such a consistently rich and compelling ride. Some have come close, especially BMW and Audi, but Porsche has, in my mind, become synonymous with excellence.

And when it came time to take my seat behind the alcantara-covered wheel of the GT3, I was nearly shaking with excitement, wearing a grin as wide as a diesel bus. Thankfully, the earlier laps in the other models had stamped the track route on my mind so I would be able to push the car harder than someone with no experience.

The first thing to register in the GT3 is the seating position, which can be adjusted just right, offering superb visibility from this rear-wheel drive machine. The second is the sound of the exhaust from the 415-horsepower, flat-six engine, which redlines at 8,400 r.p.m. (though peak torque of 300 lb.-ft. is found at 5,500 r.p.m.). The exhaust breathes with more efficiency over the design in the 996 model, and uses two central-mounted pipes to expel a rasp that will make the world take notice.

Depressed, the clutch feels firm, but not overly heavy. Pushed into gear, the shifter reveals tight, short throws. A new shift-up display illuminates in the tachometer shortly before the engine reaches its shift point. Under acceleration, the gas pedal responds with an instantaneous touch. Zero to 100km/h, Porsche says, comes up in 4.3 seconds. One hundred and sixty km/h takes 8.7 seconds. Top speed is 310 km/h.

I try to stay calm.

Into turn three, which slopes down and to the right, it is clear the GT3 is the stallion of the breed. Hurtling the 1,400-kilogram car around each bend, everything feels tight, linear, accurate. Steering input is startlingly precise, so little input is required to move the car to its intended path.

But we must be careful: too much throttle too early in the corners will bring the rear end out. Thankfully, the 19-inch Michelin Pilot Sport Cup tires hold the car to the track as if coated with an adhesive. The roar inside the car is beyond divine. Faster and faster we go. I am living a dream.

Our test car was fitted with optional Porsche ceramic composite brakes. The rotors on the front axle are 30 millimetres larger than before, and weigh 20 kilograms less than their cast-iron counterparts.

They offer superior wear resistance, outstanding stopping ability and increased confidence as a result. They will, however, be expensive to replace. A hard press on the brake pedal rips off speed as if the car is caught by a net.

The new GT3, which starts at $147,300, replaces the first North American GT3, which debuted on the 996 platform. That car replaced the European-only 993-based 911 RS, a racing-oriented Porsche that grew from a long line of RS models.

The new GT3 is also the first to arrive standard with active suspension management, a device designed to help prevent the driver from losing control of the car. The standard setting allows for softer suspension settings at the street level, while the sport mode, activated by a button on the centre console, firms up the dampers and enhances steering precision. In Sports mode, the driver also activates a special engine-control map that increases torque by approximately 11 lb.-ft., and boosts engine power by almost 14 horsepower. The difference is noticeable.Of course the biggest change in the GT3 is the 997 body style and its interior, boasting components from the Carrera GT as well as the race-ready GT3 RS. And the most obvious item to identify the GT3 is the big rear fin, made of hard plastic, as well as a large intake that now expels air upward from a vent between the end of the hood and nose to help reduce lift.

After several laps, all of which go by far too quickly, my turn at the wheel of the 2007 GT3 is done and we slowly pull into pit lane. When I exit this rare automobile, I have not only a renewed passion for Porsche, but a fresh goal: To add a GT3 to my life while I am still young and crazy enough to explore the car’s seemingly endless universe of capabilities.